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My
research deals with information policy and politics.
More specifically, I deal with three areas of studies:
(1)
Information control (gatekeeping); (2) Digital divide; and (3)
E-Gov and E-Business in comparative analysis.
My
interests in examining information policy and politics
are embedded in my academic background and training in computer
science, political science and management of information
systems. In my research I integrate these three fields of
knowledge and consequently I wish to produce a value-added,
inter and multi-disciplinary perspective and new questions.
The drive
of my research comes from the belief in the ability of academia
and research to change and evolve society. Research should have
an impact on the scholastic community as well as the larger
society. I am a great believer in making a difference through
research and leading society through paths of knowledge and
experience and change of awareness. My impact as a scholar may
incite stakeholders to look at certain phenomena from different
lenses.
My
motivation and interest are embedded in integrative
philosophy of research and teaching:
1)
Integrating conceptual and empirical research. All of my
projects combine both angles. Believing in a circulatory
evolvement of life, I conceptualize theories and questions along
empirical investigation in order to evolve new theory or
refining existing theories.
2)
Playing with different methodologies. In my research I try to
combine various methodologies parallel, so for example, I
combine qualitative and quantitative methods together, or use
various qualitative approaches to address the same question.
3)
Although my main interest and focus lies in first or
second-degree questions, which are considered as high-level
questions, my research addresses different levels of unit
analysis – from a micro perspective until an holistic view of a
phenomena.
4)
Following the integrative approach I believe in, all my projects
rely on an inter and multi-disciplinary approach.
5)
Finally, an interesting thing I found is that all my projects
have a common denominator even if they are dealing with another
topic. This denominator is the focus of questions, and the prism
that is taken to address these questions – a political angle. So
my different projects are also integrated.
My larger
questions focus on the intersection of information
and power, that is, understanding inter-relations among
stakeholders, and the politics of these relationships. All of my
projects circle around these topics. The most interesting thing
about information is the transformation of its role, purpose,
the ways in which it is being conceived and its meanings for
power in different contexts. Hence, I would like to analyze how
power and politics are being manifested in different contexts
through information, and what are the reasons for such
manifestations.
The diagram
above represents the main three threads of my research that are
embedded in the conceptual umbrella of information policy and
politics (for elaboration see below).
1.
Information Control (Gatekeeping) Thread of Research
The information
control thread of research started as part of my
Ph.d
dissertation, and later branched out to more refined and
specific topics and also to the other threads (digital divide,
and eGov and eBusiness in comparative analysis). Hence, the
analysis from an angle of information control and politics is
combined with other projects.
The topic
evolved from my
Ph.d dissertation where I developed a new
theoretical framework, and applied it in cases of virtual
communities. A natural evolution was to address these issues of
control of information from a free speech point of view. The
results and analysis emphasized the role of self-regulation
mechanisms in virtual communities, and more generally in
networks. All of these subjects stimulated me to return to the
theoretical framework and refine it even more. Here is some
elaboration:
New Theoretical
Framework of Information Control
The theoretical
study is aimed to perform a systematic examination of the
concept of gatekeeping in the context of networks and more
specifically in the Internet. The concept of gatekeeper
was first coined by the social psychologist Kurt Lewin. His
theory of “channels and gatekeepers” was developed to
explain focal points of social changes in communities. Since the
introduction of Kurt Lewin's insight, the concept of gatekeeping
has been used in various disciplines (e.g., communication,
sociology, psychology, political science). Additionally,
it has been applied specifically to practical domains such as
journalism (e.g., newspapers editors as gatekeepers), health
science, operations research, and technology development (e.g.,
consultants who provide a second opinion or function as
intermediaries).
Keeping on with
the initial course of gatekeeping research, as referred to in
the communication literature, my project suggested a new
meta-theory of gatekeeping in networks through multidisciplinary
aspects: information systems, information science, management,
political science and sociology. The study offered new
definitions of gatekeeping and gatekeepers in a network context
and referred to gatekeeping as a process of information control.
Additionally it suggested two typologies of gatekeepers and
their mechanisms and provided a framework to further theories in
the field.
Here are few
examples of the work in this thread:
Barzilai-Nahon Karine, 2006,
“Gatekeepers, Virtual Communities and their Gated:
Multidimensional Tensions in Cyberspace”, International Journal
of Communications, Law and Policy, Issue 11, Autumn.
Barzilai-Nahon, Karine. 2005.
“Network Gatekeeping Theory“, in: Theories of Information
Behavior: A Researcher’s Guide, (Eds.) Fisher K.E, Erdelez
S. and McKechnie, E.F., Medford, NJ: Information Today
Barzilai-Nahon Karine and Seev
Neuman, “Gatekeeping in Networks: A Meta-Theoretical Framework
for Exploring Information Control“, Journal of Association of
Information Systems Sponsored Theory Development Workshop in ICIS (International Conference of Information Systems), Las
Vegas, December 2005 [forthcoming] (the workshop has 30% of
acceptance)
Empirical
Investigation of Gatekeeping
(including Free
Speech and Virtual Communities
sub-threads of
research)
In the last two years I have
concentrated on one type of gatekeeping which is censorship
mechanisms, and I tried to understand how virtual
communities could manage and maintain control in their
communities by deleting messages and censoring them. As a
result, my research evolved to focus on the issue of free speech
in virtual communities. Naturally, these threads of research
affected back and refined the theoretical framework.
I have examined
empirically two types of gatekeepers, virtual community
providers and managers. This study had three main objectives:
(1) to provide an explanatory model for information control,
gatekeeping, with the dominant factors that influence this
process and to explain the process of gatekeeping in virtual
communities; (2) to provide explanatory models that analyze the
various reasons for gatekeeping in these virtual communities;
and (3) to construct predictive models for gatekeeping events
and their reasons. The empirical examination was performed on a
large dataset using data mining techniques through logistic
regression with content analysis methods. It examined 715
virtual communities, with over 1.3 million messages and 80
variables that included information traffic as well as forum and
user characteristics within these communities. The results of
this study explicated how gatekeeping is being activated in the
Internet and provide implications for analyzing control
mechanisms and information flow in cyberspace. This thread
yielded few papers. For
example:
Barzilai-Nahon Karine and
Barzilai Gad, 2006, “Freedom of Speech and Imaginary Freedom in
Cyberspace: On the Resurrection of Censorship”, in: Law, Society
and Culture, Vol. 3, Ramot Press, pp. 485-512 [in Hebrew].
This article was also reprinted in ISOC-IL (Internet Society
Association in Israel) Magazine, Vol.5(9)
Self-regulation
Mechanisms of Gatekeeping
The next
sub-thread evolved from all of the above components, and
combined all of them (free speech in virtual communities). These
components emphasized another gatekeeping mechanism that is
strong in virtual communities when censorship of information
occurs – that is the self-regulation mechanism. I intend to
develop this topic more in the future. Here are
some samples of the papers derived from this
thread of research:
Barzilai-Nahon Karine,
“Gatekeeping in Virtual Communities: On Politics of Power in
Cyberspace“,HICSS-38 (Hawaii International Conference on System
Sciences), Hawaii, January 2006 (this article combines the
previous sub-thread as well)
Barzilai-Nahon,
Karine and Neumann, Seev.
“Bounded in Cyberspace: An
Empirical Model of Self-Regulation in Virtual Communities",
HICSS-38 (Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences),
January 2005
2.
Digital Divide Thread of Research
The second
stream of research that derives as part of my interest in the
area of information policy is digital divide. My motivation to
research the domain came again from questions of power and
information, and more specifically the need to understand
inequalities in distribution of information technology, its
content, use and context. The interest in the topic was
generated after I have participated in the World Summit of the
Information Society I (WSIS-I) in December 2003 in Geneva and
later in November 2005 in WSIS-II in Tunis. Then I was surprised
to realize that stakeholders talk about the divide from
different angles (e.g., financing, infrastructure and skills),
but only rare attempts were made to construct an index that
could measure the general concept of the digital divide.
Consequently, my first step was to construct a comprehensive
measurement index to the digital divide and to validate it.
The conceptual
model of the digital divide suggested to look into this concept
from a comprehensive way (see figure 1). The uniqueness of this
project is by its focus on the skills, use and application of
information and not only concentrating on more traditional
digital divide definitions of access, which actually concentrate
on infrastructure dimensions only.
Figure 1:
Digital Divide Indicators Relations Modeling
The conceptual
model was published as a paper in The Information Society
journal –
Barzilai-Nahon Karine, 2006,
“Gaps and Bits: Conceptualizing Measurements for Digital
Divide/s”, The Information Society, Vol. 22(5), pp. 269-278
The paper received a lot of
attention of practitioners, decision makers, media channels and
academia. For example – around 30 newspaper articles introduced
the research, and many blogs and professional networks discussed
it.
The next phase of this
conceptual model is to try to validate the index empirically.
This phase might take few years. Before I continue to pursue
this phase, I study in-depth specific factors and elements of
the comprehensive model: Accessibility and Religiosity (what I
call the 'cultured technology' project).
Cultured
Technology
Both threads of
research (the digital divide and the information control)
ignited a lot of thoughts about self-regulation, and what the
meaning of it to various communities. I am mainly interested in
the power relations between the government, the communities’
regulators and their members. I added that to the topic of
digital divide and consequently, I analyzed secluded
communities, religious communities. This project presents a
theoretical framework and an empirical investigation to
understand the relationship between religious fundamentalist
communities and the Internet, through addressing four dimensions
of tensions and challenges: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline,
and seclusion. This new perspective sheds a new light over the
abstract framework of gatekeeping and gatekeepers, by focusing
on various aspects of information control in and through
secluded communities. On the other hand, I embark on broadening
the understanding of religiosity in context of digital divide
and understanding digital divide challenges in such communities,
Prof. Gad
Barzilai is my collaborator on this project. Together, we
developed the concept of cultured technology, and
analyzed the ways communities reshape technology and make it as
part of their culture, while on the other hand allowing this
technology to make certain changes in their customary way of
life and in their unwritten laws. Later, we exemplified our
theoretical framework through an empirical examination of
ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel. Our empirical study
was based on original dataset of 686,192 users and 60,346
virtual communities, while also relying on extensive literature
review and secondary data. The results show the complexity of
interactions between religious fundamentalism and Internet, and
invite further discussions of cultured technology as a
means to adapt Internet and to be adapted into it in various
communities that incline to challenge technological innovations.
The project resulted in one
refereed paper in The Information Society journal which
was twice reprinted. The research gained a great deal of
attention and was covered in 23 newspaper articles and was also
covered in different news channels in Israel.
Here is a sample of the
academic publications:
Barzilai-Nahon,
Karine and Barzilai, Gad. 2005.
“Cultured Technology: Internet
and Religious fundamentalism", The Information Society,
Vol 21(1) (this article was also published in Hebrew in the
ISOC-IL (Internet Society Association in Israel) Magazine,
Vol.5(1))
This paper was also reprinted
in: Barzilai-Nahon Karine and
Barzilai Gad, 2007, “Cultured Technology: Internet and Religion
fundamentalism“, in: Gad Barzilai (ed.), 2007 Law and Religion,
Dartmouth/Ashgate, pp. 301-316
And translated to Hebrew:
Barzilai-Nahon Karine and
Barzilai Gad, 2007, “Cultured Technology: Internet and Religious
fundamentalism“, 2006, ISOC-IL (Internet Society Association in
Israel) Magazine, 2006, Vol.5(1)
Accessibility
Awareness
As part of the in-depth
concentration in components that construct the digital divide, I
am just starting a new project with a colleague from UBC, Prof.
Izak Benbasat. In this study we try to understand the
impediments to designing websites with accessibility features
that are so important to people with disabilities.
3.
E2ECA - eGovernment and eBusiness
Comparative Analysis Thread of Research
This is the
third thread of my research that deals with information policy.
In contrast to the other two threads that are inter-related,
this subject is a stand-alone thread of research. Again the main
theme that interests me in this research is to understand the
information politics of decision makers when they address
challenges in eGovernment and eBusiness. This research is
conducted with my colleague, Prof. Jochen Scholl and would like
to deepen the understanding of the cross-specific similarities
and differences between the two sectors. Right now we are in the
end of the first phase where we conducted 6 focus groups (3 for
eGovernment and 3 for eBusiness). In the next phase we will do
integrated focus groups and then apply to an NSF grant to try to
widen the research nationally and internationally.
We already
published one conference proceeding (HICSS) and had two talks.
Barzilai-Nahon Karine and
Scholl Jochen, “Similarities and Differences of E-Commerce and
E-Government: Insights from a Pilot Study”, 40th
Hawaiian International Conference on System Sciences
(HICSS2007), Hawaii, January 2007
Page last updated
06 September, 2007
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